


mistakes, sometimes, mistakes

by waveridden



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pushing Daisies Fusion, M/M, except it's sad! this is not a comedy, maincord-prohibited swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29167014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waveridden/pseuds/waveridden
Summary: “Do you think I can bring him back?”“Mike,” Jaylen says, “I didn’t know you had necromancy hands until five minutes ago. I have no idea.”
Relationships: Derrick Krueger/Mike Townsend, Jaylen Hotdogfingers & Mike Townsend
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	mistakes, sometimes, mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> I made a joke about this on tumblr and then got three different ask prompts for it, so I combined them all into one story. This is that story! Here you go. (cw for death although it's not permanent)

“So,” Jaylen says. “What do we do now?”

They’re standing on opposite ends of the room. Derrick’s body— no,  _ Derrick  _ is still on the ground by the doorway. Mike can’t look at him, and Mike can’t look at her, so instead he’s staring at the wall.

“Mike,” Jaylen says, a little more sharply. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Mike says, like it’s being ripped out of him. “I don’t— let me think.”

Jaylen actually stops talking, which is how Mike knows he’s in bad shape. She wouldn’t stop if he looked like anything but a mess. He screws his eyes shut, but that doesn’t help. It doesn’t help at all.

He knew, he’s known for a while, that he can bring things back to life. He knew the cost. He’s always been careful with it. But when Jaylen died… it wasn’t a choice, really. He had gone to the funeral parlor to wake her up and sneak her out of the casket, because it was Jaylen, and he didn’t want a world without her. Mike knew someone would die. But he wasn’t thinking clearly. He wasn’t thinking about costs.

And he forgot that his fucking boyfriend worked at the funeral parlor.

Jaylen must run out of patience, because she says, “We need to figure this out.”

“Stop-”

“He’s dead.”

“Jaylen.”

“You must’ve known this would happen.”

“This isn’t what I wanted,” Mike says. He still can’t bring himself to look at Derrick. Of course he’d noticed Mike sneaking into the room Jaylen was in, of course he’d come to see what was taking so long. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Well,” Jaylen says. “You think I wanted to be dead?”

“I don’t think you wanted much of anything when you were dead,” Mike snaps.

Jaylen snorts out a little laugh, and Mike hates her for it, and he hates himself for turning to look at her. Her arms are folded. She’s watching him. She’s standing very, very far away. “Think about options, Townsend.”

It’s a conversation they’ve had a thousand times before. Jaylen is an inferno and Mike gets swept up in the aftermath. Jaylen says think and Mike has to think. Jaylen dies, and Mike—

Maybe there are lines he should learn not to cross.

But she’s right. There aren’t terribly many options. Jaylen’s already back, and she’s going to have to do… something about that, about the death certificate and all that. But Derrick? Nobody other than Jaylen knows about this.

“I can bring him back,” Mike says. It seems obvious now. “Do you think I can bring him back?”

“Mike,” Jaylen says, “I didn’t know you had necromancy hands until five fucking minutes ago. I have no idea.”

Mike forces himself to turn his head a little further, although he stops once he sees the edge of Derrick’s fingertips, splayed across the floor. He has to take a second to breathe deep and calm down. “It should work,” he says, mostly to himself. “It’s going to— Jay, I need you to tell me this is going to work.”

Jaylen snorts. “If you’re going to try, I want a warning so I can run away.”

“Not funny.”

“Not joking. I just got back, and I’m not going away again that easy.”

“Thanks,” Mike mutters. “Really fucking supportive, Jaylen.”

He doesn’t mean much by it, it’s really just because he’s nervous, but Jaylen looks away, mouth twisting. “I think that,” she starts, and then pauses, like she’s choosing her words carefully. Not something she does often. “I appreciate what you did for me. And that it was hard for you.”

“Hard for me,” Mike repeats. “Yeah, it’s hard.”

Jaylen scowls. “Whatever,” she mutters. “Sorry I’m a fucking freak for not wanting to be dead, but—”

“Jaylen,” he sighs. “There’s nothing wrong with you for wanting to be alive, but the least you could do here is tell me that everything is going to be okay.”

“Why?”

“Because Derrick’s not here to tell me himself.”

“You’re gonna do it?”

“I don’t think I have a choice,” he says quietly. And he doesn’t: regardless of his mistakes, Derrick doesn’t deserve to be dead. Not like this. He finally wrenches his gaze over to look at Derrick, collapsed on the floor. His eyes are closed. He looks like he could be asleep.

This is going to be the last time Mike ever touches him.

There are a couple of footsteps, and then Jaylen is between him and Derrick. For a panicked second Mike thinks she’s going to stop him, thinks he’s going to have to touch her again and kill her to get to Derrick, but then he notices the look on her face.

“Mike,” Jaylen says quietly. “It’s going to be okay. Give me five minutes to get the fuck out of dodge, and then go ahead.”

“I’ll give you two minutes.”

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Two minutes from now, everything is going to be okay.”

“Right,” Mike says. It sounds hollow. “Thanks.”

Jaylen steps over Derrick and leaves. “I’ll call you later,” she says. Mike’s not sure if she means it.

He gives her the full five minutes, just in case. He sinks to his knees by Derrick’s side and thinks about sitting on the couch together, and making out at concerts, and bumping elbows when they go on walks, and all the other things that they can never have again.

Mike bites his tongue, counts to five, and then reaches out to settle his palm on Derrick’s cheek.

It’s only a second’s worth of contact before Derrick’s eyes fly open, and Mike has to pull his hand away. He sits on both his hands just for good measure. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Derrick says. He looks confused, blinking up at Mike. “My head is killing me, am I dead or something?”

“No,” Mike says. He presses his fingers up into his shins, like that’s any substitute for being able to touch Derrick. It has to be close enough. “But I have a lot of things I need to explain to you, very, very fast.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @waveridden on Twitter and Tumblr (and if you enjoyed this, I do ask prompts sometimes on Tumblr) so come say hi! <3


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